I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to aquatic devices and, more particularly, to a paddle boat.
II. Description of the Prior Art
There are a number of previously known paddle boats and many of these previously known paddle boats are manually propelled. The manually propelled paddle boats typically comprise a hull having a plurality of paddles which depend downwardly from the hull and into the water. These paddles are driven by a person sitting in the hull so that the paddles propel the hull forwardly.
One disadvantage of these previously known paddle boats, however, it that the paddles remain in the water in a fixed position when the user stops propelling or driving the paddles. Consequently, the paddles, when stationary, inhibit the gliding action of the paddle boat and, indeed, act to break the forward movement of the paddle boat. Consequently, in order to maintain the forward motion of these previously known paddle boats, it is necessary to continuously pedal the boat which is tiring and detracts from the overall enjoyment of using the paddle boat.
There have, however, been some previously known paddle boats with pivotal paddles which allow the boat to glide even though pedalling stops. Unfortunately, these paddle boats cannot be effectively pedalled in the reverse direction.